Investors Buy Large Volume of AES Call Options (NYSE:AES)

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 28,249 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 88% compared to the average daily volume of 15,024 call options.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $16.05 on Wednesday. AES has a 1-year low of $9.46 and a 1-year high of $16.19. The company’s 50-day moving average is $14.20 and its 200 day moving average is $13.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. AES had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 9.47%.AES’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Research analysts forecast that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in AES by 406.5% in the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 232.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 2,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,737 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 50.8% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 448.3% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 9,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory bought a new position in AES in the third quarter worth approximately $140,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $16.00 price objective on shares of AES and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho raised their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Argus upgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.08.

AES Company Profile

AES Corporation is a global energy company focused on the generation and distribution of electricity across diversified markets. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, AES develops, builds and operates power plants and distribution systems that serve residential, industrial and commercial customers. The company’s portfolio includes thermal, renewable and battery energy storage facilities designed to deliver reliable and sustainable electricity solutions.

Through its subsidiaries, AES operates a balanced mix of power generation assets, including natural gas, coal and renewables such as solar and wind.